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One of Nintendo’s portable stalwarts becomes a download-only release for the 3DS eShop, but are all the changes for the better?

Mario And Donkey Kong: Minis On The Move (3DS) – cute on the outside, hard as nails on the inside

Nintendo has always been criticised for their patchy release schedules but at least in the majority of cases the games are worth the wait. But the other increasingly loud complaint is that they are too reliant on existing franchises. And it’s true that an internal Nintendo studio hasn’t created a new, core-focused home console franchise since Pikmin in 2001.

That is shameful, but it’s also true that even when Nintendo games have similar names and feature similar characters the game within is often entirely unique. That’s certainly the case with this new Mario and Donkey Kong game, which although it appears to be just another sequel is actually something completely different.

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The franchise can trace it’s history all the way back to 1994’s Donkey Kong on the original Game Boy, which despite the non-specific name was a significant advancement over the original coin-op and added more complex puzzle elements to the mix.

The concept was revived a decade later on the Game Boy Advance, adding in the idea of guiding and protecting little toy robots based on Mario and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom. Four games later and these ‘Minis’ have now become the main focus and you don’t control Mario at all. Instead the game has evolved into a purebred puzzler, more akin to Pipe Mania than Donkey Kong.

But that’s fine, it means it’s something different and we’re sure Nintendo are right in thinking that with the Mario name attached it’ll sell a lot more than it would’ve otherwise.

There’s no kind of story trying to explain what’s going on, but despite being a downloadable game there are stacks of different play modes. The ‘Main Game’ is actually four entirely separate modes, each unlocked in turn. They all use the same visuals and interface though, with a 3D view of a small rectangular game world on the top screen and a top down view on the bottom screen.

The 3D visuals are quite nice, and the Minis very cute, but in actual fact the gameplay is entirely two-dimensional. In the first game mode different tiles fall down a green pipe, which can then be placed onto the touchscreen. Most of these are differently shaped paths, which help to create a route for the Mini to walk along – and ideally snag three medals along the way.

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If the Mini falls off the edge or hits a tile without a connecting path then it’s game over. Although soon enough there are plenty of other complications, including bombs you can use to remove tiles, trash compactors you can feed unwanted tiles to in order to get magic ones, and pivots that change the direction of a tile’s path.

The game’s a little slow to get going in terms of difficulty but soon enough it all seems completely impossible, right up until you realise the solution and curse yourself as a fool for ever getting stuck in the first place. Before that happens the game offers no hints or solutions but since it’s easy to unlock the other modes you should always have multiple puzzles on the go at once.

The first extra mode to unlock is arguably the best and instead of having random tiles appear down a pipe you’re given only a finite number that have to be used in increasingly inventive ways. The third game mode features multiple Minis moving around at the same time and doesn’t feature any extra tiles at all, just pivots and sliding blocks. The final mode has only three stages but they’re much larger than any of the others and have you collecting more than just three stars.

Beyond this is a set of unconnected mini-games, which have you doing things like shooting Shy Guys with a catapult, using a lift to collect coins, and breaking apart 3D shapes filled with bombs. They’re trivial little timewasters but perfectly welcome extras.

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To top things off there’s also a level editor and the ability to download and play other people’s creations. This is already filled with dozens of new levels and given there are already over a hundred Nintendo-designed stages the game offers impressive value for money.

In fact we’re sure in the pre-App Store days Nintendo would’ve just sold this at full price as a normal retail game, but they’ve sensibly decided otherwise and this deserves to do very well as one of the eShop’s best downloads. The core gameplay is not entirely original but there are enough interesting spins on it to make this one of the most enjoyable puzzle games of the year.

In Short: A welcome change of style for the puzzle series, and although its influences are obvious this offers impressive value and variety for an eShop download.

Pros: All four main game modes are fun, and the interface is clear and easy to use. Plenty of extras, including a fully-featured level editor. Charming presentation.

Cons: The core gameplay owes a very obvious debt to Pipe Mania. Difficultly level takes a while to get going, and then rises a bit too sharply.